The Alabama tight end would see a teammate in public — a player he didn't know quite as well — and he wasn't sure how to handle it. He wouldn't go so far as to say there was a chemistry problem with the 2013 Crimson Tide, but Nick Saban and his teammates have said there were issues that caught up to that group.

So they've emphasized the intangible quality of togetherness this summer.

"We're hanging out with guys we don't normally hang out with, getting to know them so it makes the chemistry in the locker room a little bit better," Vogler said.

How that translates to the field will be observed in less than a week. Alabama is done with the preseason camp portion of August and is less than a week from kicking off against West Virginia in Atlanta.

Saban likes the transformation he's seen with the team.

"I would say the biggest takeaway that I get from this team is, I think that this team really and truly likes each other," Saban said. "I think this team is much more bought into doing the things that they need to do to be successful. There's not a lot of complaining. I don't see a lot of negativity, I don't see a lot of negative people and I think that's always a good sign."

The offseason revealed some of the cracks in last season's framework. Quarterback AJ McCarron, now a Cincinnati Bengal, questioned some of his younger teammates before the Sugar Bowl loss to Oklahoma. He said some didn't buy in completely. He also told the Jim Rome Show there was an entitlement issue with former top recruits.

Vogler said they're trying to close the age gap that Saban's referenced on several occasions.

"For me, we sort of took all those freshmen under our wing — Ross Pierschbacher and J.C. Hassenauer and them. Then you've got other guys who are sophomores or redshirt freshmen like Bradley Bozeman, Cooper Bateman, just guys like that."

"We play video games," Tomlinson said, "and, of course, we like to eat, so we all go out to eat a lot."

These moments are huge for this program after what Tomlinson observed last fall.

"I think at the end of the last season people were more individuals, and we came together more as a family this year," he said. "We don't worry about us individually, but work more as a team to help each other out. So we bond more."

Center Ryan Kelly said moments as simple as Tuesday's ALS Ice Bucket Challenge go a long way to bringing this team together.

"Things like that where somebody might overlook that as an outside person," Kelly said. "But that just helps you build a team."

And it's about getting to know more than just the players who line up in the same unit. Vogler, a fifth-year senior, said he went to a cookout at outside linebacker Ryan Anderson's place to get to know the players in his friend group.

All of that is important and the progress in those areas were fully noted and complimented by Saban. But there's one final step in that process.

"Do we have the right kind of chemistry to overcome adversity, to be the kind of relentless competitor that you need to be to sustain the season in our conference? Saban asked. "All those things remain to be seen, but that's the things that I'm most encouraged about is the way they go about their work and what they try and do."